DC/DC converters are also referred to as direct current converters or direct DC converters and convert a direct voltage supplied to the input into a direct voltage with a higher, lower or inverted voltage level. The conversion is realized with the aid of periodically operating electronic switches and with one or more energy storage devices.
A current control circuit may comprise a sensing resistor connected to the output of the converter. The second terminal of this sensing resistor is once again connected to the converter via an additional pin thereof. The output current of the DC/DC converter is measured with the aid of the sensing resistor. This means that an additional pin is required on the one hand and a sensing resistor is required on the other hand to measure and adjust the level of the output current by a control. The sensing resistor also leads to reduced efficiency due to the voltage drop occurring at the sensing resistor. In contrast to related charge controllers, it is not possible to readily measure the input current of DC/DC converters to indirectly determine the intensity of the output current based thereon, namely because the output current of a DC/DC converter is higher than the input current.
It could therefore be helpful to provide a DC/DC converter with improved current control.